Whitehorse's Ryan Leef is on the fight card for Armageddon Fighting Championship (AFC) 4 at Victoria's Bear Mountain Arena on Nov. 6.

The 36-year-old got news of his upcoming bout against Cory Gower from AFC president Darren Owen last week.

Leef has a month of intense training left to go before stepping into the cage against an opponent he knows little about.

"Professionally, we both only have one fight under our belts,” said Leef, who fights in the bantam (135 lbs.) weight class.

"He could be 15-0 amateur for all I know, but professionally he's 1-0.”

Leef is 0-1 after clashing with Diego Wilson (5-0) in AFC 2 last March, he missed out on AFC 3 after breaking a knuckle in training, and is 3-0 in amateur mixed-martial arts.

Wilson choked Leef out with a rear choke late in round one.

"I was happy with the fight; I was able to knock him down hard,” Leef said. "I did a good job at striking him early in the round, then I got caught with a slip, trying to kick when I shouldn't have kicked, and when I slipped he took full advantage of that. He jumped me pretty quick when I was down and was able to get my back and choke me out.”

Leef had less than seven days' notice because the fighter slated to clash with Wilson dropped out late in the lead up to the fight.

Perhaps it's not the best way to enter the cage with a fighter whose reputation proceeds him.

"The promoter actually asked me if I was sure I wanted to fight him for my first fight because he's a fairly accomplished fighter in the division,” Leef said.

Didn't that make you nervous?

"Nah. I thought, ‘You know what, I'm going to have to fight him some day, so why not now?'”

Leef considers himself a competent striker and wrestler, less of a grappler and kickboxer.

The only other thing Leef knows of his upcoming opponent, Gower, is that he comes from a kickboxing background.

"I'm going to have to be careful about that,” Leef said. "I'm not a kicker and I know it, and I certainly won't stand and trade kicking blows with him. I'm very comfortable with my striking, so if we move inside,

I'm not too worried – I think I can exchange inside punches hard and fast with him or anybody, but I got to be careful with the range.”

Preparing to enter the cage is a little different than preparing for his first passion.

Leef was a member of the Canadian track and field team in 1992, and reemerged as a competitive runner as a member of the national mountain running team in 2001-2002, when he competed in world and North American championships.

These experiences prepared him for the intensity of fight night. He's run in marathons with 50,000 people, for instance.

"So I was accustomed to that (intensity),” Leef said. "Albeit, it's different when you're about to step in the cage and have somebody punch you in the face,” he laughed.

"Getting in the cage was different.”

Leef had two true previous experiences in the cage.

While preparing for AFC 2, he trained at Next Generation Canada, a boxing centre which also offers training for defensive tactics and mixed-martial arts, in Richmond, B.C., under pro heavyweight boxer Jeff Widas.

In November 2009, Leef traveled to Las Vegas for a pro mixed-martial arts camp held by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) legend Randy Couture.

During the camp there was much talk of "if and then,” Leef said, action and reaction.

"It's important in this sport that you don't lose mental focus the whole time, which is tough because you're battling all the elements of fatigue, stress, adrenaline, everything going on physiologically, everything going on physically, and still trying to mentally outwit the person you're competing against,” he said.

The challenge of juggling all those variables got Leef hooked to the sport.

Leef is the deputy superintendent of operations at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

He first started training in defensive tactics for the job in 2000, namely Goshin Ryu Aki jutsu, along with a whole host of instructor systems: instructor rating in Pressure Point Control Tactics (PPCT), he was named 2006 black belt instructor of the year and a level one instructor in the Jim Wagner Reality-Based systems for terrorism, crime and knife survival, self defense and ground fighting, to name a few.

He took these programs originally to become a defensive-tactics instructor for law enforcement.

The exposure of mixed-martial arts generated a group of more modern fighters, a more modern system that law enforcement didn't have knowledge about, Leef explained.

"There were a lot of questions about what it meant, where its application may or may not fit within law enforcement, so I just started exploring those, really just to diversify my own portfolio really,” he said.

Armed with that interest, Leef started going to training sessions and pro camps and worked out at different clubs in Canada and the U.S. to see if there were techniques he could utilize in his own professional training.

"There's only one way to find out if you're good at it, and that's to do it,” he said.

Following Couture's camp last year, he started looking into promotions that would fit him.

That's when he first contacted Owen.

"He just said, ‘If you're in, I think I could probably get you into a fight,'” Leef said.

"He looked over my resume and said, ‘Looks like you're capable of fighting with us, so lets give it a go.'”

And that's how it happens.

Now Leef is training several times each day, seven days a week.

He even trains with his coworkers.

"They're willing to donate their time and their bodies,” he said, "vice versa sometimes.”

Others in Whitehorse are willing to donate their time, including Charles Eshleman, Leef's primary Muay Thai and general conditioning coach, fitness trainer Adam Thompson at the Canada Games Centre and Jess Staffen, coach with the Yukon Amateur Boxing Association.

Leef has had to adapt to the recovery period that comes with fighting, compared to running.

The same risks don't apply.

"In this sport, I'm always going home injured,” he said. "Not debilitating, but you're always sporting a scratch or black eye or bruises on your arm or your back, you're always stiff and sore from constantly working different muscle groups, different bones.”

Study also comes with it, like a chess match, Leef said.

"You tend to take a beating in this sport, particularly the sections you're not really strong in. You meet people that are very good at one thing, they tend to school you pretty good in it. It's good for learning and it's good for growth, but it takes more time to recover, that's for sure.”

Leef's Nov. 6 bout will air on Pay Per View and the Fight Network, starting at 7 p.m. (PT).

"It's not a toughman contest where two guys just jump into the ring and slug it out,” Leef said. "If you make a tactical error, you can pretty much hand the fight to somebody; and on any given day, anybody can beat anybody in that aspect. It takes small mistakes, and quick capitalization could change the tide of a fight in a real hurry.”